Talila Nesher -
Haaretz -
"The Council for Higher Education has given Ben-Gurion University`s
Department of Politics and Government three weeks to rectify perceived
deficiencies before it decides whether to shutter the department, which
the right-wing Im Tirzu organization has criticized for its "anti-
Zionist tilt." - id

George Rishmawi - IMEMC - In 2006 the Israeli army gave up its Shdema Camp in the Ush Ghrab area of eastern Beit Sahour, and had no objection to the Palestinians turning it into a park. However, the settler movement "Women in Green" is agitating to build there a new Israeli settlement. On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians, accompanied by international supporters set up a protest tent on the ground, protesting the settler design.

Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann - Rabbis for Human Rights - We know of theft of olives in a couple of places, particularly in Farrata near Havat Gilad (Palestinians do not access there other than with army protection a few days a year) where more than 100 trees were completely stripped of their olives. In Yanoun, Krayut, Ein Abus and Mureyer there were reports of extensive damage to altogether some 350 trees. ak

Michigan Peace Team (MPT) - Last Wednesday, Katrina Dybzynska, Polish citizen and member of MPT, took part in a protest action at the Rami Levy supermarket at the Israeli settlement of Sha`ar Binyamin. She was choked in the neck by Israeli border police and then bodily dragged behind a line of military vehicles. Since then she is held in detention and faces deportation from the country.
ak

Saed Bannoura -
IMEMC -
" The report names Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett Packard in the
United States, in addition to Veolia Environment of France, G4S in
Britain, Volvo Group and Assa Abloy in Sweden, Ahava, Elbit System and
Mehadrin in Israel, Dexia in Belgium, Cemex of Mexico and Riwal Holding
Group in Holland." - id

Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - Nine activists (5 from Greece, 3 from Spain, and one Italian) - who were on the Estelle solidarity ship, that was boarded by the Israeli Navy in International waters on Sunday - voluntarily forfeited their right to appeal a judge’s decision for their deportation.
18 activists are still detained in Ramla, awaiting the judge’s decision due Wednesday.

Elik Elhanan - Swedish Ship to Gaza/MWC News - When the commandos came aboard and we blocked their way, they knew exactly who I was. They shouted in Hebrew: `Elhanan, you will pay for your Leftism!` and used the taser to give me electric shocks. But if they think they could deter me and those who sailed with me, they are mistaken.

Noam Chomsky, Press Release - ZazaFL - "They call it Israeli territorial waters, it’s actually Gazan waters or international waters, Israel has no right to those waters. […] The siege is a criminal act that has no justification. It should be broken and it should be strongly opposed by the outside world"

Rami Almeghari -
EI -
"Over the past seventy years I have been involved, there have been
different ways in which you could move to that direction. Circumstances
change, so your tactics change and under current circumstances, in fact
since 1975, there is only one way that has ever been proposed, and that
is in stages, through a two-state solution as the first stage." - id

The Global Ticker - The Chronicle of Higher Education - “This attack on the department quite transparently has nothing to do with the quality of its staff, or of their teaching or research. It has everything to do with the fact that some of them have publicly taken brave and locally unpopular political positions,” says the letter, which was organized by two academics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.-rh

Gush Shalom - Press Release _ Three Israelis - among peace activists on the Swedish boat "Estelle", taken over by Israel`s navy. Also on board are Members of Parliament from Sweden, Norway, Spain and Greece. Gush Shalom: A stupid show of force, expanding occupation to international waters in the Mediterranean.-rh

Rabbi Brant Rosen - The undersigned members of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council stand with our American Christian colleagues in their recent call to “make U.S. military aid to Israel contingent upon its government’s compliance with applicable US laws and policies.”-rh

PNN -
"All of the activists aboard the Estelle were required to sign a non
violence declaration. Yet, one of the activists said, "We do not hit, or
yell. If IOF soldiers board the ship and try to prevent it from reaching
Gaza, we will try to protect our vessel with our bodies."" - id

RAJA SHEHADEH -
IHT -
"That an Israeli group like Zochrot should organize a trip to a city
where some of the Nakba’s worst atrocities occurred is an important and
necessary attempt to bridge this nagging gap in perceptions." - id

Change.org - In its agreements with third countries, we believe that the EU should promote and respect human rights and fundamental values. The benefits brought by the adoption of such agreements should not be built on breaches of international law, unlawful or inequitable exploitation of resources and/or unfair and discriminatory practices.

AIC - The invitation of the Israeli Cameri Theatre to a prestigious international festival in India aroused strong protests in that country. Those calling for the invitation to be cancelled took up Israel`s overall record of Israel`s oppressing the Palestinians and Israeli theatres acting to give Israel a "cultured" image in the world, and the Cameri`s own specific record of explicitly deciding to perform in the West bank settlement of Ariel.

Emilie Grunzweig - Haaretz - "They are not men, nor women / They are mere objects, mere shadows / To learn to kill / It is a matter of habit … To learn cruelty / Is a matter of momentum / It starts small / And then it comes." The song was written following Alona Kimhi`s experiences on tours led by "Breaking the Silence" - music: Izhar Ashdot.
[The song (in Hebrew) is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q-NRrB9pbKs ] bz

Jahalin Association - The Supreme Court rejected the Kfar Adumim settlers` demand to demolish the Bedouin "tire school", which is ecologically built of mud and used car tires, attended by 95 children from the adjacent hut village Al Khan al Ahmar. The immediate threat is removed, but the village is still under military threat.

While the Swedish ship Estelle makes her slow way to Gaza, visiting numerous ports on the way and being warmly welcomed, hundreds of parlamentarians, prominent civil society actors and artists from different countries signed a petition against the siege.

Negev Coexistence Forum - Last week police raided with exceptional brutality the government-recognized Bedouin village of Bir-Hadaj. In protest, The Negev Arabs` Steering Committee announced a general strike on Thursday, October 18th, On the same day, there will be a big demonstration in front of the ministry of interior`s offices in Be`er-Sheva at 10am.

Elior Levy - Ynet - "As long as the Palestinians are being assaulted by the settlers, especially during olive-harvest, and as long as Palestinians` lives are disrupted, the lives of Israelis will also be disrupted," a member of the popular committees told Ynet.

Academia Under Attack - On October 31 the Council of Higher Education is due to decide on the draconian recommendation to close down the Ben Gurion Universty Department of Government and Politics, due to the political orientation of many of its professors and lecturers. Academic associations worldwide sent letters to the CHE, protesting this threat to academic freedom in Israel.

Alison Flood - The Guardian - Celebrated Israeli novelist David Grossman is working with Boualem Sansal, an award-winning Algerian writer who came under Boualem Sansal, an award-winning Algerian writer who came under harsh criticism for visiting Jerusalem earlier this year, to launch a writers` drive for peace which calls among other things for a halt to the "inhuman and immoral" situation in Israel.-rh

The Freedom Theatre -
"During the ride, The Freedom Bus visited some of the most besieged
areas in the West Bank. Palestinian actors and musicians enacted
personal accounts of community members, touching on issues such as home
demolitions, land confiscation, army invasions, arbitrary arrests,
settler violence, water shortage, the effects of the Wall and much
more." - id

Varese organizing committee/BDS Italia - On October 13 a demonstration will be held at the headquarters of the the Alenia Aermacchi comapny, producer of the M-346 trainer jets, to protest the sale of thirty such jets to Israel. While defined as a "trainer" plane, the M-346 can in fact be be armed with missiles or bombs, and might be so used against Palestinians.

Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - About a fifty Palestinian villagers were headed to their olive groves, located near the Israeli settlement of Adora, but the army blocked their way. When they persisted in trying to get to the olive trees, the soldiers fired dozens of tear gas canisters. The injured were treated by field medics.

Two activists where arrested while accompanying a Palestinian shepherd through his land near the settlement-outpost of Avigile. Around 30 Humen Rights activists joined this week Ta`ayush on their activity at South Mount Hebron area.

Cindy Corrie - The Seattle Times - He ruled that Rachel was killed as an act of war, which, according to Israeli law, absolves the military of responsibility. He added that she alone was to blame for her own killing and then went on to commend the military police for their professionalism in carrying out such a credible investigation.-rh

Moran Azulay - Ynet - The ship is believed to be carrying equipment meant for the "Gaza Ark" project – a Canadian initiative that hopes to build a Gaza-made ship that would carry Palestinian exports outside the Strip`s waters.

Dror Feiler - Swedish Ship to Gaza - We are sailing again, on our way to Gaza
The port authorities in La Spezia in northern Italy finally decided to not give in to Israeli pressure. Just minutes ago Ship to Gaza and its vessel Estelle got final clearance to depart from port. Credit to the responsible officials who showed integrity and a sense of justice!